


Promotions

by orphan_account



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo | Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem
Genre: Chess Metaphors, M/M, Marriage Proposal, two tags I'd never thought I'd use in the same place and yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-22
Packaged: 2018-04-16 17:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4633566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"If a player advances a pawn to its eighth rank, the pawn is then promoted (converted) to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color at the choice of the player (a queen is usually chosen)."</p>
<p>In which Marth is very determined not to let Kris remain but a shadow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promotions

**Author's Note:**

> Obtains the pseud xanemarths; immediately posts Krismarth instead.
> 
> Ahaha, I've actually been sitting on this for a while trying to find a way to finish it off... In the end, though, it just sounded better as-is, so with only a few minor changes, I decided to post it.
> 
> Also before anyone says "but technically Kris isn't a tactician; that's Jagen and Katarina!": I am aware. This Kris however is a tactician; was meant to be a tactician. Kris is a my unit after all; and if you're the one calling the shots on who moves where, I think that qualifies as strategical planning/tacticianing.

"So I see that you, too, have fallen to curiosity and a need to test if I'm really the chess champion here, hmm?"

The prince laughed, smiling across at the other blue-haired man. "Of course not, Kris. I know very well that I couldn't hope to out-tactician my tactician - still, I thought it would be a fun experience nevertheless."

Kris smiled, quite a rare sight, as he fiddled with one of the pieces on his side of the board. "Only if you like being soundly beaten, Marth. Ah, well. White side goes first, which gives you a headstart - you're gonna need it." He leaned back in his seat, dark eyes blinking at Marth. "I like the black side better, anyway."

"You would," said Marth with a chuckle, before moving one of his pawns, thus beginning the game.

\--

"Checkmate."

"And again."

Across from him, Kris frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's the sixth game you've lost today, Marth! I can understand being a sore loser, but asking for this many rematches is hardly worth the possibility of one win."

The prince laughed, a slightly strained sound. "No, no. I'm genuinely enjoying this, losing or not," he said, a lie obvious enough. Still, Kris merely rolled his eyes and began to sent up the board for another round. He knew far better than to deny his lord...

"How did you ever become so good at this?" Marth asked as he lost another piece, and his tactician offered another, brief smile. "Another thing you learned from your grandfather?"

"Yes," Kris admitted. "I learned a lot from him - but I suppose this in particular is a great help in tactical planning, isn't it?"

"Hmm," came the quiet reply; another piece moved about on the board, almost too quickly, and Kris readied himself for a counter attack - "Queen me."

Kris froze in place, staring blankly at Marth. "...What?"

The young king pointed at the board, to a white pawn standing oh so innocently among the enemy lines. "My pawn reached the end of the board. I can be promoted to anything I want. So I say, queen me. Or whatever the chess version is."

Kris gripped at the table until his knuckles turned white, but he knew the prince was right. Marth had reached the end, and the rules did say that pawns could promote, whether or not it fucked with entire game strategies. He looked over at the piles of chess pieces - neither queen had been taken; Marth still had pawns in the game - and back to Marth, perhaps trying to convey his confusion over what to do. With a pawn that could move around so much, it could easily be confused for any other...

"Never mind - I've got it."

Moments later, Marth had slipped the ring from his finger, letting it slid over and onto the pawn. It caught neatly at the base, too small to slip off easily, a perfect fit. "Your fingers are quite small, I see, sire."

"Oh, do shut up."

And shut up Kris did, when a few turns later the impossible had been accomplished. "Checkmate," Marth told him lightly, and all Kris could do was stare in shock and disbelief, searching for a way out of the predicament he had gotten himself into. When none could be found, he resigned himself to his fate, crossing his arms and grunting. The prince only laughed. "Who's the sore loser now, Kris?"

"Shut uuup," he huffed, grimacing. "Besides, I'm supposed to be the tactician here - I should always be three steps ahead!"

"The war is over, Kris," Marth reminds him, and a deep, uncomfortable silence settled over the table. Almost as if to break this, Marth reached across to his crowned pawn, turning it between his fingers.

"I do find it interesting how little pawns are valued - often synonymous with the pieces that can easily be replaced, forgotten. Really, though, pawns are quite important." His gaze never broke away from the piece in his fingers, but something in his words felt pointed in a way that made Kris shift in his seat.

"Pawns are the first pieces able to move in a game, aside from knights. The pawn is the forerunner, pushing ahead of any other piece. And pawns that reach the end of the board are rewarded, of course." He set the piece back on the table, fingers tracing around the golden ring. "Of course, knights, bishops, rooks are all viable options. Most often, though, a pawn becomes, quite frankly, the most powerful piece on the board - the queen - which can lead to some players having multiple queens on the same board."

For the first time since he began, Marth lifted his fingers away from the pawn, folding both hands under his chin. "Do not think me utterly blind and deaf, Kris. I have heard you refer to yourself as a pawn before, as if to downplay your own significance in this war. As if, somehow, by being a pawn, you are unimportant. You are a piece to be easily forgotten about, replaced, ignored. And while it is unwise to ignore your king, lest he be captured, it is also unwise to ignore a pawn. How did I win? I threw off your strategy by gaining another, more powerful piece, and you couldn't recover."

Kris gaped, feeling his face heat up; he hadn't ever thought the prince had heard that, or cared enough to take note! Something else in the way Marth spoke frightened him as well, his heart beating unusually fast as he tried to comprehend what was happening. "Are you going somewhere with this, sire?"

"Of course. Kris," Marth began, looking across the table at the other man, "you are a pawn who has reached the end of the board. The war is finished; you have survived. You say that a pawn who reaches the end of the board retreats, but in truth, they are usually promoted. And I have exactly the kind of promotion I want to give you in mind, if you'll take it."

It was then that the prince reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, quite similar to the one that had been on his finger before, with only a few minor differences in shape and size to distinguish them. He slipped it onto his finger, looking up just in time to see Kris gaping at him. "Ah, yes, this is my ring - there's small stars carved on it, see? The one on the pawn was never mine to begin with. I know your worries; that by staying around, others will turn and try to follow you in my stead - but this is a solution too, is it not? To unite ourselves so wholly that there would be no sides to choose between - and if a king can have more than one queen on the field in chess, I see no reason why I cannot, either."

Slowly, he slid the pawn with the ring on it over to Kris. "I have made my decision, Kris. Now, it's your move."

**Author's Note:**

> "if a king can have more than one queen on the field in chess, I see no reason why I cannot, either."
> 
> AKA Marth is very poly, and Shiida is still absolutely involved in this and consenting to a poly relationship.


End file.
